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December
20th

QSpy UpdateThere's the email that fell through the cracks for my first update, a new QSpy (QuakeWorld Front-End). This from Don "One Thumb" MacAskill:

Here's the new QSpy that works with the new features we've
worked into the QuakeWorld master server... you can successfully change your password
without screwing it up, you can also enter a username in the "Query User" field
rather than just a userid, and it will work... there are more, I'm sure, but those are the
immediate ones. Enjoy.

Book of Skins 0.3A while back Christopher Bolin
sent me a zip file of some skins that he originally made for version 1.0 of the Reaper Bot
(which it seems, alas, will never be made) to get some feedback. Now he has chosen to
release them. Check out skinz03.zip for one truly
professional collection of skins (you won'rt be sorry).

I'm BackAnd exausted. I've had two hours sleep in the past 48 (work)... I don't
recommend it (the lack of sleep, or work). (Actually, this is hyperbole... I refigured
this as of 10:00pm EST and it's two and a half hours sleep in the past 39).

lammas: people who slow down to look at accidents...
*especially* if they're on the other side of
the road!

Carl Sagan died early today :-(

American .plan Part IIAmerican updated his .plan again (thanks Scot Cole):

It is a sad day. Carl Sagan died today.

Zeus BotThanks to newshound Darren L.
Tabor (aka DaKoTa-Xeno) for pointing out that the new, updated Zeus bot is now
available at QCA. (He can now
jump of ledges and such).

Intergraph's Bold MoveRandy Perry sends along word that Intergraph has renamed the Reactor the
Intense 3D 100 game card (according to their site, The renamed Intense 3D 100 game card
offers the same specs as Reactor 3D.

The CD materials went to the printer early last week. The
factory had some problems with the CD print masters, though - two got broken and they take
12 hours to make each time. We'll be receiving them tomorrow and they'll be sent out via
air mail to registered users. Most people should get them on the 24th. If you haven't
received yours by then, please send mail with the subject "No Package Yet" to bmorris@islandnet.com to receive the registered
version via e-mail in the meantime. Sorry for the delays.

New EditorCheck out AdQuedit: The
Quake Editing Workstation. Version 1.0 of this shareware editor allows for editing bsp
textures, entities, mdl skin, sprites, and wads, and a bunch of other things.

American's .planFirst thing I saw when I was back online was this update to Tokay's .plan:

Anyone who owns an ultralight please
email me :)
erm, this is the flying kind, not the
motorcycle kind. sorry bout that.

Futo the smallest shambler
Wasn't very tall at all
And if you ever saw him
You would even say he's small

All of the other shamblers
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let for futo
Go on any shambler raids

Then one foggy quakemess day
Shub Niggurath came to say
Futo with your size so small
you could fit my pan an all

Then all the shamblers loved him
As he was served with glee
Futo the smallest shambler
He went down so easily

December
19th

Call WaitingDue to the intrusion of real-lifeTM, I
might not be on the ball here at the old Blue Tower till the wee hours of
tonight/tomorrow... (aaah! HTML)

Quick Quake Rally/QuakeWorld UpdateI'm running around like a madman, but I got the satellite uplink from the
Bluemobile going, so I will let you know that the Quick and Dirty QuakeWorld Setup page
has become the full-fledged site, Jord's
Quake World, and that Frag.com has got a QuakeRally Review page up.
Ooops, there's the Bluephone. Gotta run (to the Bluepoles....).

QuakeWorld StuffThere is a bunch of info about little updates on fixes they did in the wee
hours last night on the RevCo Page (thanks Don Peterson).

Also, there is a new version of QSpy (4.01) in the works that will fix a few QuakeWorld
front-end problems, including the inability to enter an alternate master server
(particularly vexing since they keep changing). Unfortunately, this might take a couple of
days. In the meantime, you can circumvent this by editing your master.dat file with a text
editor to add the missing server addresses in the format IP:port #.

Finally, Necro (Rick Cooper) passed along some
valuable if you're having difficulty using the middle button on your three button mouse in
QuakeWorld. Turn off the mapping of the third button. Logitech by default sets the middle
button to send a double click (Win95 has no internal support for the middle button). So
QuakeWorld (being a Win95 app) sees a double "mouse1" event rather than a
"mouse3" event. Before starting QuakeWorld:

Go to control pannel settings
Activate the mouseware control center
Select buttons
Set the middle button property to "Middle Button"
Apply settings
Exit back to the desktop

Rick says he only knows this will work for Logitech, but suspects the same is true for
other manufactures that allow mapping the middle button.

"Intended for deathmatch, it allows the player to set a
combination to lock a door to a room (presumably containing an item of value) and run
around while others bang their heads in frustration trying to break the code. The example
map is relatively simple to solve without knowing the combination since there are only
eight possible combinations. (2^3). Then, should the player wish to change the
combination, all he/she has to do is set the buttons inside the room in question which
accordingly resets the combination. Convenient and practical."

Tarok and RonSolo found one of those "I should have
checked my glasses" bugs (semicolon where there shouldn't be a semicolon) and the
master at 204.50.178.66 is now properly calculating skills for players.

QuakeWorld UpdateOn the RevCo Homepage (thanks Don
Petersen) "Skill" is broken, but response times are up:

both OneThumb and I are running the new master code now on
our servers so go play and hack on them =) 204.50.178.66 and 206.86.0.22

If it survives the night intact, we'll be giving the source
and executables back to the boys at id tommorow.

Sound Blaster UpdateCreative Labs has released a new set of drivers for the SoundBlaster that are DX3
certified (thanks NineInchNed). These drivers, that
I wrote about earlier, work on the SB16, SB32 and the AWE64 ("It goes to
eleven") not just the AWE32 (Thanks to Mike
Roy for pointing that out). Good news for those (like myself) who've struggled with
DirectX on their Sound Blaster.

Revco MovesThe RevCo homepage has moved (as
promised), to their new home on Stomped. Christian says
he will be taking down the 204.50.178.103 master to work on it. He says the 204.50.178.66
one should be up indefinitely now that the RevCo page has moved to Stomped, but the server
to use as your primary master until id's master server is back up, is 206.86.0.22. Thanks S.Bryan Loyd.

QuakeWorld CTFThreewave has
been updated with the news that there is a QuakeWorld CTF server on Planet Quake, tied
into One Thumb's master server (read the note on Threewave to ensure you don't end up
downloading all the custom models, etc. when you connect). Thanks to Darren L. Tabor (aka DaKoTa of Clan Xenocide) sending
along the word.

Fargo's ForecastMy buddy Fargo, of the famed Fargo's Frontpage, has written an
extensive article that attempts to pick up what the coming year will hold in terms of
first-person games, discussing the probable release dates of all the Quake add-ons, Prey,
Unreal, Jedi Knight, etc., and their potential impact over the course of 1997. Fargo's
writing is, as always, top-notch professional stuff, highly recommended reading.

Master Server Problems Part IIIThe RevCo Homepage (which
promises to move in the next 24 hours) has more info on alternate master servers. The bug
that's been causing the masters to crash is being referred to as the "filegrow"
bug (like knowing the latin name for the germ that made you sick).

Alternate master servers:

Best Internet: 206.86.0.22 (Multiple T3's -- Preferred!)

RevCo Server 204.50.178.103
Older RevCo Server 204.50.178.66

The second update on this: John Carmack updated his .plan file with info on the status
of the Master Server (thanks Zith):

dec 17:

QuakeWorld went up, got to around 4000 users, then the master
server exploded.

Disrupter and cohorts are working on more robust code now.

If anyone did it on purpose, how about letting us know... (It
wasn't all the people that tried %s as a name)

The first note on this: Yep the master cylinder broke under the weight of client
requests. The RevCo page has the latest on
its status and the IP of an alternate server to use.

Speaking of Redwood, there's a letter on his page from Michael Abrash describing the
woes of WinQuake debugging, (to which I can personally attest). Also go check out the
interview with big red over on Sujoy's
marvelous Quake Pages. If you're wondering about the meaning of this quote from the
interview:

"Oh, and I love Dr Pepper. Note that we spell Dr without
a period in the state that it comes from."

That's a well deserved poke at me, as on a couple of occasions in the past I've
professed my love for the magic elixir, but then misspelled the name Dr. Pepper.

Here is the lowdown from id Software's Michael Abrash on the "Cannot load
wdirxxf.dll" message.

"Unless you want to run -dibonly (which is usually
slower, and is a lot slower at low-res such as 320x200), you *must* have all 6 files
(wdir62.dll, wdir62f.dll, pmpro62.dll, pmpro62f.dll, wdirnop.com, and wdirnop.pif. You
must also have the latest versions, dated 12/9/96."

Michael asks that everyone avoid distributing just qwcl.exe (or at least, if you do,
not to send him or John Carmack mail asking why things aren't working).

TeamFortress UpdatedVersion 1.37 of the TeamFortress
patch has been released. This is described as the first version designed for Internet
servers. More details on the TeamFortress
Homepage.

When It Absolutely, Positively Has To Get
There...
Quake Command has been updated. Apparently Choryoth has an endorsement deal with UPS.
Thanks to Gary McClendon.

December
16th

PowerBall UpdateThere's a large update on the PowerBall Page with new rules which
includes a bonus mode (I'll trade for Door Number Three, Monty). Thanks to Patrick Cupka of The Void.

QuakeWorld Update Part IIThere's an second update (thanks Matt)
on the state of the QuakeWorld on the RevCo
page. John Carmack is running their new master server code, and there is an extensive
QuakeWorld Q&A. The earlier update pointed out that the code is probably going back to
John Carmack today. (Thanks James Mitchell.)

The Tokay CalendarAmerican's .plan has been updated with a little end-of-the-weekend message
(thanks to Chuck Mays):

Monday again. Bah.

Quake Clan Prefix/Suffix ListThe Quake Clan Prefix/Suffix List is now easily available on the ClanRing website, in the place that's been
teased at for months: http://www.gamesdomain.com/clanring/qcr_prfx.htm
(or via the "Members" section of the clanring site). Clan leaders can add their
clan by going to: http://www.channelzero.com/claninfo.
The manager of the Clan Prefix/Suffix List, Walla__
(of 311) wants to assure everyone that no clans were "left off the list" on
purpose... clans need to register using to above web site (even if you're already listed
as a ClanRing clan; this is a different database).

Australian News
Any Australian Clans who want to participate in an Australian Clan League in the new year,
visit Quakemania's Clan page and fill
in the form. If you are already listed, you might want to make sure your details are
correct. Any questions, contact Chuq. They're
also encouraging all Australian Quake players to join the #quake channel on Oznet
(Australian undernet) from time to time to keep up with the latest.

December
15th

Grappling with Losing the Grappling HookA sentiment I've seen expressed in several reader emails is disappointment
that Threewave Capture the Flag
in QuakeWorld is not going to include the grappling hook. In a recent email Zoid dropped
the hint that we might still have a grappling hook in our future in QuakeWorld CTF:

The QuakeWorld CTF conversion has gone through initial stages
and is up and running. The flag lags behind the carrier pretty badly, so Whaleboy is
working on a new player model that will fix this. Of course, the hook is gone. But it may
appear in a future version of QuakeWorld. :)

It's nice to know that Threewave CTF will be ready for the QuakeWorld release. BTW, Zoid is also the one who did all the 1.01 to 1.06 bug
fixes in the Quake C for QuakeWorld.

Master Server DifficultiesThose who questioned the wisdom of distributing the QuakeWorld server
program in advance of the client should bite their tongues now that it's been discovered
that running so many servers caused the Master Server to pop its master cylinder. Details
on the problem and progress towards a solution are on the RevCo page (thanks Darren L. Tabor AKA DaKoTa from Clan Xenocide).

Skin GuidelinesSince there is a little confusion about this, Rick Brewer, aka ^Drag0n^, the QuakeWorld
ClanSkins Administrator has sent along the guidelines:

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING SKINS FOR QUAKEWORLD
------------------------------------------------------

1. Get this file from id's ftp site or any of it's mirrors.
It contains the base skin PCX and expanded directions on creating skins for QuakeWorld:

2. Using BASE.PCX as your template, create your clanskin. All
skins should be created and saved in the form of a 320x200 (256 color) PCX file using the
default palette from base.pcx. If you save in hicolor or truecolor QuakeWorld will not
display the skin properly. Remember that anything appearing outside of the boundaries of
"Mr. Quake" will not appear on the model. I suggest that you do as id did, and
place your name, address, and clan in one of those areas.

3. Save your skin using the first eight (8) letters of your
clan's name. For instance, if your clan is called "Impulse 9", save the skin as
IMPULSE9.PCX. If your Clan begins with the word "the", such as "The
Brothers Gib", shorten as necessary, to something that makes sense such as
BROS_GIB.PCX. Other valid names would be DARKREQ.PCX (Dark Requiem), SILVSURF.PCX (Silver
Surfers), and REVCO.PCX (The Revolting Cocks). If any filenames are duplicated. I will
rename as appropriate, and e-mail you the new name given to the skin.

4. When submitting the clanskin, submit *ONLY* PCX files as
described in (2). All others will be heartlessly tossed aside, as I am processing on the
order of 50+ skins per day since the server was released (this means no GIFs, RIFs, TIFFs,
JPGs or BMPs, and *ESPECIALLY* NO MDLs).

5. Mail *ALL* submissions to qwskins@idsoftware.com, *not* to
my cyberportal address. The mailing should be in the following format:

New QBallBeta 1.1 of QBall has been released on the QBall Homepage, featuring a new play
variation called Zombie chase.

Wedge Updates!Wedge updated his side of Quake
Command with a little on the skinny with future updates to Quake Karts (probably not),
the Aircraft (probably), and stuff like that. Thanks to Dean
Hacker (Weasel of Doom).

New IdeaCheck out Anna's Frag
Bag a column on the Gib and Nail. It's sort of the Ann Landers of Quake. Thanks to Mr. Gone for the lead...

MakeoversIn case you hadn't seen yet, Both sCary
and Redwood are sporting new looks. I see
sCary cracked on the logo, too. I might just have to reach into the logo stash for a new
one...

Chris Danek, QNN's maintainer, sends along a
reminder that the ClanRing Finals are this weekend and suggest's checking things out at
the ClanRing or on EFNET #clanring
where things "will be surely updated every few minutes on the scores, etc."
Coverage of the tourney and the clan scene in general can also be found, as always, on Fargo's Frontpage

PandemoniumIf you're French, or simply would like to be, check out Pandemonium, which features French translations
of Blue's News ("LE site des news de Quake" =) and the Thred tutorial. Even if
you don't speak French the site also has some truly impressive original freehand Quake
art.

QuakeLab UpdateSteve Fukuda, the Dr.
Quakenstein of the QuakeLab, sends
along news of the lab's latest experiments. Both a QuakeC type and plain-edited version of
the Combination Lock demo map (the edited version is semi-programmable), and the Shootable
Lights demo map by Brian Osman are available for download (for you tricky types...).